CorpComms Magazine

Blue sky thinking, circling back and thinking outside the box... management consultants have gained notoriety for using fancy language to state the relatively obvious. But while it may be fashionable to lampoon consultancy gobbledegook, the strategic working practices inspired by management theory have become common in organisations everywhere.

And nowhere is that more true than in the area of stakeholder mapping, a practice dreamt up by early management theorists which was brought to life in the public sector as consultants were drafted in to reorganise government bodies answerable to a diverse stakeholder audience.

The raft of equality and diversity legislation over the past 15 years, prompting the need for stakeholder-specific policies and initiatives, pushed the movement into local government.

And now the practice of stakeholder mapping appears to be gaining momentum in mainstream communications as a way of informing the strategic direction of PR campaigns.

John Drummond, chief executive of behavioural change agency Corporate Culture, contends that informal processes similar to stakeholder mapping have been around for more than 20 years, although they were practised in a less regular and rigorous way than they are today.

Drummond adds: 'In the 1990s when I was group communications director at United Utilities, we identified key stakeholders and conducted research on a regular basis, which allowed us to prioritise based on stakeholder insight.' Yet he contends that it is still surprisingly rare for companies to approach stakeholders in a systematic and strategic way. 'Stakeholder communications is the kind of investment that pays for itself but it's not as active and regular as we'd imagine,' he adds.

But the simplicity and rigour of stakeholder mapping should make it an attractive tool for anyone looking to plan an effective communications campaign. The tool is used to determine the perceived influence of different stakeholders and whether they are for or against an organisation's position. The map should then inform the tactics of the communications campaign as it relates to the influential stakeholders - the academics, talking heads and think tanks who may have a view on your position.

Communications consultancy Blue Rubicon uses stakeholder mapping in a wide range of its strategic communications campaigns. 'It helps us identify who to co-opt as an ally and who to engage with as a critic,' explains Matthew Burchell, head of research and insight. The process is also used both tactically and strategically. For example, more recently stakeholder mapping was used to inform the CSR strategy of a client in the consumer goods sector.

'The company's CSR activity was highly fragmented,' explains Burchell. 'To enable them to have more impact with their CSR activity, we recommended they focus it on just one area. The purpose of the stakeholder mapping was to decide what that area should be.'

Blue Rubicon then undertook an analysis of the key stakeholders active in the areas in which its client was undertaking CSR activity. Each organisation was evaluated against a range of attributes such as credibility with the media, alignment with government and alignment with the client's position.

'We then used that evaluation to compare them against our client's own attributes in that space. The process enabled us to identity the space where our client was most likely to be able to mark out a distinctive position, which met their own strategic objectives,' adds Burchell.

Locally sourced

The use of stakeholder mapping, at least on an informal basis, is on the rise in local authorities. Jacqui Wilkinson and Sterling Rauseo, co-founders of change management consultancy Beyond Engagement, argue that localism and the 'Big Society' initiatives are forcing local and central government to develop and implement services and policies in a more targeted way.

'It is not just about targeting specific groups but also finding providers that can supply the appropriate services,' they say. This approach could become even more pertinent as increasingly private sector companies, such as outsourcing groups Capita, Serco and Mouchel, take over the delivery of a large number of government services. 'The need for effective stakeholder mapping has increased if only to demonstrate a private company's suitability to deliver the services.'

With such a rapid pace of change, it is increasingly becoming necessary to conduct regular assessments of stakeholder groups. Indeed, some companies report that they are stumbling upon new stakeholders on an almost weekly basis. Similarly, stakeholders are getting their information from a wide range of sources, such as news and blog aggregators and social networks.

Mark Ramsdale, managing director of public affairs consultancy Mark Ramsdale, thinks this increasingly decentralised communications model is making stakeholder mapping more important. 'Historically, a lot of emphasis was placed on senior people in organisations having direct relationships with other senior people, now we have diversified and widened the number and level of different stakeholder groups. You don't have your chief executive having lunch with another chief executive and then everyone else getting a press release,' he explains. 'This all means you need to understand those different audiences and target them better - and that's why stakeholder mapping has become more relevant to the communicator.'

Getting people onside

But there are some considerations to be mindful of. Drummond warns of being too rigid when identifying stakeholders. 'It's almost a mistake to define priority stakeholders when it comes to communications strategy. Companies can benefit from having a wide and varied stakeholder audience,' he says.

He predicts that the major defining trend in strategic communications will be open innovation as companies strengthen two-way communication with stakeholders. 'Control is being relinquished and technology is enabling that to happen,' Drummond argues. 'For example, a wonderful innovation could come from a student at university or a member of the public.'

Internet platforms, such as not-for-profit website Carrotmob, have helped empower individual citizens to get together around a topic area and exert their influence. In so-called Carrotmob campaigns, an organiser will ask local businesses to compete to show which will make the biggest changes to their practices in order to have the most beneficial impact on the community. The winning business will enjoy more custom through the door as shoppers vote with their wallets to demonstrate their support - Carrotmob describes this phenomenon as the opposite of a boycott.

Its latest London-based scheme, 9carrots, invites businesses wishing to improve energy efficiency to sign up. Customers who mention the 9carrots scheme at the checkout will receive a special receipt, and ten per cent of the sale price will be earmarked for the scheme. Once the business has saved enough money, it will invest in low energy initiatives, such as lighting, heating or refrigeration. (Progress is monitored online.)

Drummond believes that sites such as these empower the individual while presenting companies with a tremendous opportunity. Anyone who doubts the power of the tweeting and Internet-using masses need only recall the embarrassing u-turn by clothing giant GAP after its new logo was vilified on Twitter shortly after its launch last October.

Going directly to individuals and members of the stakeholder community for their ideas is just one way that companies can circumvent Twitter-led rebellions. Some companies, such as those with large research and development departments like consumer products giants Procter & Gamble and Reckitt Benckiser, already look to source ideas from individuals.

Nearly 40 per cent of sales at Reckitt Benckiser come from products launched in the past three years. It has encouraged an entrepreneurial atmosphere within the business, and promoted this approach externally with the launch of RB-Idealink in 2006. The microsite encourages innovators, ranging from individual inventors to academic institutions to small to multinational companies, to suggest proposals, ideas or technology that may ultimately find themselves on supermarket shelves under the Reckitt Benckiser umbrella.

'They have been pioneering open innovation in terms of new product ideas,' Drummond says. 'If you wish to get the maximum benefit from engaging with your stakeholder groups, you need to provide avenues for them to communicate with you.'

Corporations everywhere are facing up to the fact that they have to cede some control to individuals and stakeholder groups in order to survive. Drummond believes the recent events in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya illustrate the need for governments, organisations and companies to relinquish control or pay the price. 'In the new world, nobody is in full control,' he explains.

But the savviest organisations are realising that listening to individuals and stakeholder groups could provide a wide range of growth opportunities. 'You need to engage at an individual level.

Organisations cannot succeed on their own,' Drummond concludes. The case for tying communications to a company's business strategy has never been stronger and a two-way dialogue with stakeholders is crucial for success.

Stakeholder mapping top tips

• Know why and how much you wish to communicate with each segment of your population.
• Implement more intensive communication with segments that have influence in championing your messages or who are strong objectors and less for people who just need information.
• Use a range of consultation techniques in developing your stakeholder maps, to encourage maximum input.
• Internet-only communications may be suitable for young people but not for older members of society or hard to reach groups.
• Involve local champions/experts in your mapping process and in delivering your communications.
• Make sure your techniques and approach are appropriate to the population.
• Ensure you have set up feedback mechanisms to ascertain whether your communications have reached and engaged your target audience.

Source: Beyond engagement.

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